1. Technical Field
The description is directed generally to distributed (multimedia) networks such as mobile networks including telecommunication services operated by mobile network operators (MNO) or mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) and, in particular, to a computer-implemented method, computer system, and computer program product for telecommunications rating.
2. Description of the Related Art
Telecommunication services, in particular for mobile services, are nowadays often provided not only by mobile network operators (MNO) but also by mobile virtual network operators (MVNO). MNOs may refer to companies which provide frequency allocation(s) as well as the required infrastructure to run an independent mobile network. MVNOs may refer to companies that provide mobile phone services but do not have their own frequency allocation(s) of radio spectrum, nor do they necessarily have the infrastructure required to provide mobile telephone services. An MNO that does not have a frequency spectrum allocation in a particular geographical region may operate as an MVNO in that region. MVNOs may operate using any of the mobile technologies MNOs use, such as IS-95 (CDMA), GSM and/or UMTS.
Due to a large number of today's operating MVNOs, MVNOs are forced to provide their services in a cost, time and resource (in particular with regard to hardware and software resources) effective manner comprising great operational effectiveness products. One aspect to increase efficiency in provided services relates to enhanced and improved telecommunications rating.
Telecommunications rating may refer to the activity of determining the costs of a particular (phone/mobile phone) call. The costs may comprise costs (with regard to time and resources) for technical support tools such as telephone lines (e.g., mobile networks, land lines, overseas lines, etc.), service architectures, connecting services, etc. A rating process may comprise converting call-related data into a monetary-equivalent value. The performance of this rating process may require a computer system, because a huge amount of data (relating to costs associated with a call and related services) may need to be processed to calculate a (possibly) very specific rate. The data may be very detailed depending on various technical requirements and personal aspects of a user. Furthermore, providing the rating process with a computer also allows rating costs (e.g., costs relating to a call and/or related services such as a data download) to be computed during a call. In addition, a corresponding account balance for a user may be automatically updated based on the costs of the call that are associated with a large amount of data and/or information relating to the call. All related data (regarding a call, a corresponding product, and a user performing the call, hardware and/or software requirements) may be stored in a data storage device such as a database. Call-related data may be generated at various points in a network and/or measurements may be taken by third party equipment such as network probes. The data may relate to data which could be quantifiable and specific. Usage data gathered during a call may be then packaged by corresponding equipment (comprising appropriate software and/or hardware) and/or may be sent to a gateway for charging purposes.
Rating systems and/or processes may, for example, use some or all of the following types of data about a call: time properties of the call (e.g., date, time of day and day of week); amount of usage (e.g., duration of the call, amount of data charged and/or downloaded, number of messages sent); destination of the call (land line, wireless, overseas, etc.); origin of the call and/or location of the caller (this might be in particular useful in mobile networks); and premium charges (e.g., premium charges for premium content, cost of physical items such as movie tickets, etc.).
In telecommunications rating, the costs associated with an individual call operated through a subscriber (e.g., from a client system operated by a user) may be rated and then the rated amount may be sent to a billing system to provide a bill to the subscriber. The rating system and the corresponding rating process may be a module of a larger billing system.
Beyond the huge amount of individual data which need to be processed by a rating system, a rating system needs to be permanently adapted to constantly changing data (e.g., changing price polices, changing individual services charged by different users, and/or changing technical equipment supported by network operators). Hence, there is a need to provide a computer-implemented method, computer system, and computer program product which enable efficient (with regard to time and other resources) telecommunications rating comprising reusable software and/or hardware resources so as to reduce a total cost of ownership and to enable a seamless processing of huge amounts of data relating to a call, a corresponding user, requested services, and/or required equipment for network services.